Why tap the word and not the gap after it?

Because a word is a solid thing to press and a gap is not. The sentence is laid out by the browser so that it reads properly at any size, which means nothing knows exactly where a gap is, and a press on the white space between two words would be a guess. Picking the mark first and tapping the word it goes after is also how a teacher says it out loud.

Can I put in my own sentences?

Not yet. Adding one means typing it, and there is no keyboard here on purpose. If you want a particular sentence, tell us what it is and it can go in the bank.

Why does it not mark as I go?

So the class can commit to an answer. Marking a full stop the moment it lands turns the tool into something to guess at, and the whole value of this at the front of a room is the pause between deciding and finding out.

Where are the inverted commas?

Left out for now. Speech punctuation needs a mark at both ends of a phrase rather than one after a word, which is a different interaction, and doing it badly is worse than not doing it.

Punctuation Practice

English · Year 1–Year 4

Pick a mark, tap the word it goes after, and check the sentence.

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About the punctuation

A sentence goes up with the punctuation taken out. Pick a full stop, a comma, a question mark, an exclamation mark or a capital letter on the toolbar, then tap the word it goes after. Tap the same word again to take it off.

Nothing is typed. That is the point: this is a whiteboard tool for a teacher standing at the board with a class calling out answers, and a keyboard at the front of a room is a queue of one.

Check marks what has been put in. Green is right, red is wrong, and anything missing appears in grey, so the class can see the difference between a mark in the wrong place and a mark that never went in.

Eighteen sentences, easiest first, from a capital letter and a full stop up to commas in a list and a comma after a fronted adverbial. The best of them is the two that have run together: 'the dog barked it was very loud' is the question every Year 2 class needs, and it cannot be asked on a worksheet without giving away the answer in the layout.

Four or more for each of Years 1 to 4, so there is a run of them at whatever the class is working on: capital letters and full stops, the word I, questions and shouts, days and months and place names, lists of three and of four, and commas after the words that tell you when.

Each sentence comes with the question to put to the class rather than the answer. Where does the first sentence stop. Which mark does the end need. Say it out loud.

How to use it on your whiteboard

1Pick what to put in: Aa for a capital letter, or one of the four marks.
2Tap the word it goes after. Tap that word again to take it off.
3Check marks what is there. Green is right, red is wrong, grey is missing.
4Back and Next move through the sentences, easiest first.
5Clear takes everything out and leaves the sentence bare again.
6Tap Fullscreen to fill the board.

Questions

Why tap the word and not the gap after it?: Because a word is a solid thing to press and a gap is not. The sentence is laid out by the browser so that it reads properly at any size, which means nothing knows exactly where a gap is, and a press on the white space between two words would be a guess. Picking the mark first and tapping the word it goes after is also how a teacher says it out loud.
Can I put in my own sentences?: Not yet. Adding one means typing it, and there is no keyboard here on purpose. If you want a particular sentence, tell us what it is and it can go in the bank.
Why does it not mark as I go?: So the class can commit to an answer. Marking a full stop the moment it lands turns the tool into something to guess at, and the whole value of this at the front of a room is the pause between deciding and finding out.
Where are the inverted commas?: Left out for now. Speech punctuation needs a mark at both ends of a phrase rather than one after a word, which is a different interaction, and doing it badly is worse than not doing it.